• Cheers to the voters for approving a new high school for Federal Way and for passing the South King Fire and Rescue levy in 2012. This commitment to your community will raise the quality of life for all involved.
• Jeers to all of the politicians and the talk of an imminent fiscal cliff. This talk makes small business owners nervous. Nervous business owners scale down inventory and don’t hire workers. This continues a malaise in the local markets, which are the life blood of this country. Business 101 should have taught legislators that you come out to the American people and tell them we will find a solution. We don’t have one today, but we will get something resolved. While this is oversimplified, it has the effect of calming the malaise and promoting further economic growth.
• Cheers to the Federal Way City Council for changing the code to allow banners to span South 320th Street. Jeers for not appropriating the dollars to make this project a reality.
• Jeers to cancer.
• Cheers to the city for a first-class effort in hosting the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials back in June. Jeers to King County for not replacing the bulbs in the sign at the King County Aquatic Center so that you could actually read it.
• Jeers to the city for its missteps on red light cameras. It’s OK to capture motorists who don’t follow the rules and are a threat to the kiddos getting out of school. That part is undeniably what we as taxpayers pay you to do, but you have to earn it to get it. Taking money from folks because of a faulty system is not earning it.
• Cheers to the new businesses that opened in Federal Way in 2012. These newcomers include The Ram, Harbor Freight Tools, HomeGoods, Buffalo Wild Wings and Comcast XFinity, to name a few. May you find success in your endeavors.
• Jeers to Black Friday, the annual day-after-Thanksgiving shopping day that actually began on Thanksgiving this year at retailers like Walmart. Also, jeers to any retailer who considers opening on Christmas Day for gift returns and blowout deals. The point of the holidays is to promote family bonding, not plasma televisions. If retailers claim to care about the well-being of employees, then retailers will let employees spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families instead of behind a cash register.
• Cheers to Centerstage Theatre and its annual tradition of English pantomime. Federal Way is lucky to have high-quality professional entertainment in its own backyard.
• Cheers to Rob Neu, superintendent of Federal Way Public Schools, for establishing himself as a valuable leader in the community and for the leadership he has demonstrated on behalf of the city’s children.
• Cheers to pimp-turned-comedian Katt Williams, whose bizarre meltdown in the region earlier this month included a visit to Federal Way. Despite the petite comedian’s erratic behavior that weekend, Williams at least brightened the Federal Way Farmers Market by spending several hundred dollars with local vendors.
• Jeers to the Grinches who vandalize properties and Christmas light displays in Federal Way. Here’s hoping Santa’s reindeer leave stinky presents in your Christmas stockings.
